Rotary engine



(No Model.)

W. B. STORY.

ROTARY ENGINE.

No. 594,711. Patented Nov. 30, 1897.

FlG. 6.

INVENTOH,

ATTORNEYS parts in a different position.

NITED STATES ATENT UFFIQE ROTARY ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 594,711, dated November 30, 1897.

Application filed April 3, 1897. erial No. 630,496. (No model.)

To all whont it may concern:

Be it known that I, WARD B. STORY, of Freehold, in the county of Greene and Stateof New York, have invented a new and Improved Rotary Engine, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of the invention is to provide a new and improved rotary engine which is simple and durable in construction, very effective in operation, and arranged to utilize the motive agent economically and to the greatest advantage.

The invention consists principally of a cylinder, abutments mounted to swing on the said cylinder and adapted to fold into recesses in the cylinder-wall and rest with their free ends against shoulders on the cylinderheads, and a piston mounted to revolve in the said cylinder and provided with a fixed head extending in the Working chamber of the cylinder, the hub of the said piston being provided with inlet and exhaust ports for the motive agent.

The invention also consists of certain parts and details and combinations of the same, as will be fully described hereinafter and then pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this Specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improvement with one of the cylinder-heads removed and the main shaft in section. Figs. 2 and 3 are similar views of the same, showing the v Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of the same on the line 4 4 of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a sectional side elevation of the mechanism for operating the abutments, and also shows a cushioning device for the same. Fig. 6 is a cross-section .of part of the improvement on the line 6 6 of Fig. 2. Fig. 7 is a similar view of the improvement, showing the piston and its ports and the adjacent abutments; and Fig. 8 is a detail View of one cylinder-head, showing the shoulder thereon.

The improved rotary engine is provided with a cylinder A, mounted on a suitable base B and provided with heads A and A in which is j ournaled the main driving-shaft O,connected in the usual manner with the machinery to be driven. On the shaft 0, within the cylinder A, is secured a piston provided with ahub D and a piston-head D,extending into the working chamber of the cylinder to the inner surface thereof, as plainly illustrated in the drawings. On the inner surface of the cylinder A and at diametrically opposite points are arranged recesses A and A into which are adapted to fold the segmental abutments E and E, respectively, mounted to swing and adapted to rest with their free ends on shoulders A and A, respectively, formed on the cylinder-heads A A so that the abutments when in an active position extend approximately radially in the cylinder, as plainly illustrated in Figs. 1 and 3. The abutments E andE are secured on the shafts F and F, journaled in the cylinder and provided at their outer ends with crank-arms G and G, respectively, pivotally connected by links H and H with levers I and I, fulcrumed on brackets I and 1 respectively, secured to one of the cylinder-heads, (the head A as shown in Fig. 4E.) The levers I and I are provided with pins or friction-rollers 1 and 1 engaging a cam-groove J in a cam J, secured to the main driving-shaft 0. Thus when the latter is rotated the cam J imparts swinging motion to the levers I and I, so as to cause the shafts F and F to rock to swing the abutments E and E into a radial position against the shoulders A and A or outward into a folded position, as shown at the right in Fig. 2, with the abutments then resting on the recesses A A and with their inner faces completing the inner surface of the cylinder A.

In the hub D of the piston and near the head A of the cylinder is arranged an annular port 17, from which lead the oppositely-arranged segmental ports I) and b adapted to register with the port 0, formedin the cylinder-head A and connected with the steamsupply pipe K, connected with a suitable source of motive-agent supply. From the .annular port 17 extends inwardly the inlet-port b opening into the cylinderA at one side of the piston-head D, so that the'motive agent can pass from the port 0 through either of the ports b or 5 into the annular port band from the latter through the port 11 into the interior of the cylinder, so as to act on the pistonhead D to rotate the piston and main drivingshaft 0 in the direction of the arrow at. The impulse is given by the motive agent to the piston-head D twice during every revolution of the main driving-shaft C-that is, whenever the ports I) and register with the port 0. Now the length of the ports I) and b is such that steam can enter the cylinder for a certain length of time to act with boiler-pressure 011 the piston-head D, and afterward the corresponding port I) or b is cut off from the port 0 to allow the steam to act on the piston by its expansive force.

As illustrated in Fig. 1, the cam J is in such a position that both abutments E and E are in an active position and the port I) is in register with the port a, while the other port 5 is cut oif from the port 0. The motive agent now passes through the ports 0, b, b, and b into the cylinder between the piston-head D and the abutment E, so that the piston is re volved in the direction of the arrow at. Now when the piston D has advanced a sufficient distance to cut the port b off from the port a and the steam has worked expansively the said piston B is near the abutment E, and the latter now swings outward into the folded position shown in Fig. 2 by the action of the cam J on the lever I, connected with the shaft F and abutment E. Now previous to the abutment E commencing to move into a folded position the hub D of the piston has advanced so that its cut-out portion D has passed under the free edge of the abutment E, so that steam can pass from one side of the abutment to the other to utilize the pressure thereon and to permit an easy outwardworking motion of the abutment into the folded position. The piston-head D in its further progress passes with its free end over the inner surface of the abutment E, as shown in Fig. 2, and when the piston arrives at the position shown in Fig. 3 the abutment E swings inward again to its former position by the action of the cam J, and at this time the port Z2 comes in register with the port 0, so that steam passes again into the cylinder between the piston-head D and the abutment E. On the further travel of the piston the head D nears the abutment E, and now the cut-out portion D on the hub D passes the inner edge of the abutment E, so that the steam in the cylinder between the abutments E and E can pass to the space between the abutment E and the head D to equalize the pressure on both sides of the said abutment to allow an outward swinging thereof into a folded position by the action of the cam J on the lever I. It is understood that the steam in front of the piston-head D can at all times escape through the ports 01 and annular recesses d, formed in the hub D and registering at all times with the exhaust-port (2, formed in the cylinder-head A (See Fig. 4.)

In order to insure an easy return swinging of the abutment E, as above explained, relative to the abutment E and after the pistonhead D has passed the corresponding abutment, I provide the hub D with a second cutout portion D in the rear of the head D, so that the abutment when swinging into an innermost or active position retains an equal steam-pressure on both sides to insure an easy closing. The abutments E and E are formed on their backs with ribs E as illustrated in Fig. 6, so as to strengthen the said abutments and to permit steam to pass through the ends of the recesses to the said back of the abutments to permit of readily starting the abutments on theirinward travel, as the pressure is then equal on both sides of the abutment.

In order to insure an easy seating of the abutment both when passing into an innermost or outermost position, I preferably provide cushions on the crank-arms Gand G, as illustrated in Fig. 5, the said crank-arms being each provided for this purpose with two chambers G2 and G separated from each other by a partition G having a small aperture G for connecting the chambers with each other. In the chambers G and G are fitted to slide the pistons L and L, provided on the outer ends of their piston-rods with heads L and L respectively, adapted to strike alternately a fixed pin or bracket N, carried by the cylinder.

Now when the main shaft 0 rotates in the direction of the arrow at then a swinging m 0- tion is given, say, to the lever I (see Fig. 5) to impart a swinging motion to the crankarm G. Now when this arm nears the end of its stroke the head L of the piston L is forced against the fixed pin N, so that the piston L is caused to slide inward in the chamber G and as the air formed in this chamber forms a resistance to the said advanced piston it naturally cushions the same, and, consequently, the abutment E, as the latter moves into the recess A. The air compressed in the chamber Gr passes slowly through the aperture G into the other chamber G in which it forces the piston L outward, so that on the next return stroke of the crank-arm G this piston L is actuated by its head L striking the pin N. By this arrangement the crank-arm is again cushioned at the time the abutment E moves against its shoulder A. The same cushioning effect takes place at the crank-arm G to cushion the abutment E as the latter moves from one position into the other.

It will be seen that by the arrangement described the engine utilizes the steam very economically, as the same is cut off during a part of the revolution to allow it to act expansively in the cylinder on the piston-head D, and two impulses are given to the said piston-head during every revolution of the main shaft.

On stopping the engine it may happen that both ports I) and b are out of register with the port 0, and in order to start the engine it would be necessaryto turn the main shaft by hand; but in order to avoid this I provide a pipe K, having a valve K connected with the steam-supply pipe K. This pipe K extends through the head A to register at its inner end with the ports I) and b a suitable distance from the inner end of the port 0, so that should the engine stop in the position above referred to the operator by opening the valve K can allow the motive agent to pass through the pipe K into either of the ports I) or 19 out of register with the port c.

Having thus fully described myinvention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A rotary engine, comprising a cylinder provided with recesses at diametrically opposite points in its wall and with shoulders on its heads, abutments pivoted at one end and adapted to fold into said recesses and to extend radially into the cylinder with their free ends resting against the said shoulders,- and a piston mounted to revolve in the cylinder and provided with a head extending into the working chamber of the cylinder, the hub of the piston being provided with inlet and exhaust ports, substantially as described.

2. A rotary engine comprising a cylinder provided with recesses at diametrically opposite points in its wall and with shoulders on its head's, abutments pivoted at one end and adapted to fold into said recesses and to extend radially into the cylinder with their free ends resting against the said shoulders on the cylinder-heads, and a piston mounted to revolve in the said cylinder and provided with a head extending into the working chamber of the cylinder, the hub of the piston being provided with an inlet-port leading to an annular recesss formed in the hub, and from which recess lead two segmental ports adapted to register with a supply-port in one of the cylinder-heads, substantially as shown and described.

3. A rotary engine comprising a cylinder provided with recesses at diametrically opposite points in its wall and with shoulders on its heads, abutments pivoted at one end and adapted to fold into said recesses and to extend radially into the cylinder with their free ends resting against the said shoulders on the cylinder-heads, and a piston mounted to revolve in the said cylinder and provided with a head extending intothe working chamber of the cylinder, the hub of the piston being provided with an inlet-port leading to an annular recess formed in the hub, and from which recess lead two segmental ports adapted to register with a supply-port in one of the cylinder-heads, the said hub being also provided with an exhaust-port leading to an annular recess in the end of the hub and registering at all times With an exhaust-port in the other cylinder-head, substantially as shown and described.

4:. A rotary engine comprising a cylinder, oppositely-arranged abutments mounted to swing in the said cylinder, a piston secured to the driving-shaft and mounted to rotate in the said cylinder, a cam held on the said shaft, means for connecting the said cam with the shafts of the said abutments, to impart a swinging motion to the same to move the abut ments into an innermost active position or into an outermost folded position, the said abutments when in an innermost position being adapted to rest against shoulders on the cylinder-heads and against the inner peripheral surface of the hub of the piston, the latter having cut-out portions to establish c'om munication between opposite sides of the corresponding abutment, substantially as shown and described.

5. A rotary engine provided with a swinging abutment and a cushioning device for the same, the said device comprising a crankarm on the shaft of the abutment and having two chambers connected with each other by an aperture, and pistons fitted to slide in the said chambers, adapted to be engaged at, the outer end of their piston-rods by a fixed pin as the crank-arm receivesa swinging motion, substantially as shown and described.

WARD B. STORY.

Witnesses:

ELMER E. STORY, JOHN H. OAMMER. 

